Event: IRONMAN 70.3 Mallorca
Date: 10th May 2025
The alarm was set for 6am in the morning. We (3 friends and I) woke up to bananas, chugging honey, maurten carb mix, and half a red bull.
We walked over to the start line a little behind schedule, which caused us to join a slower tranche of swimmers than we wanted. However, the swim warm up was awesome. Tunes were played on an elevated DJ booth. The crowd was getting hyped up; the boogie was on and the dance moves were tearing up the beach. Before we entered the water, the DJ announced the top 10 represented countries at the 70.3: Spain 3rd, Germany 2nd, and the United Kingdom 1st!! Definitely a lot of Brits…
I almost hyperventilated when starting the swim and found it hard to fall into a breathing rhythm. I would probably recommend saving the red bull for after the swim. The swim was a simple course, a straight swim out and a straight swim back. Not much to report on the violence front, which is good news. Pretty clear ocean water and only 18 degrees, which was great.
The transition was a pleasant lead into the awesome bike course which started with a nice flat 20km before hitting 15km of climbing. 20km was great to enter the climb with warmed up legs. Overall, the climb was not too bad, no crazy steep gradients, just a plug and chug uphill. As Jay (from VTC) pointed out to me a couple weeks ago – it’s not over until you reach the petrol station! A great piece of advice.
The descent post-climb was awesome. Great speed mixed in with a load of hairpin bends that keep you on your toes and make for exciting overtakes 🙂 After the descent, there is a 40km time trial section. Once starting this section, I figured many participants were drafting in groups without getting called out by marshals. So, with 30km to go, I joined a group of 5 which soon turned into a 20-men (and women) strong peloton, making the last 30km very speedy (averaging about 37kmh).
The run was probably the least exciting bit. A 3 lap course through Alcudia. The best section of the loop was by the beach, simply because it was more scenic and more fans supported by the beach. There were tons of aid stations, making it easy to cool down and fuel up with whatever you wanted. I do wish fans brought more music to push everyone along. I only saw one boombox during the run. I guess DJing in Mallorca isn’t a big scene. The last part worth mentioning is that I peed myself 3 times due to the high electrolytes and water intake during the bike section. This was the best part of the run besides finishing it. There aren’t many occasions when one is allowed to pee in public, and it’s worth taking the opportunity by the horns. Just remember to wash off the shoes post race. You don’t want to deal with what I had in my luggage when arriving back in the UK.
All in all, a great event! Free flow Mahou and San Miguel post race with a side of pasta and fruit 😉 Top notch.
